How to Start Gold Panning

     There are pleanty of ways to learn the art of gold panning. But nothing beats hands on experience and practice.

You can get a book; watch a video, even “You Tube” has several videos on gold panning. 

Like many other outdoor experiences you really need to get your hands wet and dirty to really learn. 

("Don't worry you won't get too dirty")

If you were getting into gardening would you get the same experience by reading a book about tomatoes?

Or watching a video?Purchasing seeds but having someone else prepare a rich soil, choose a pot, fertilizer, and plant the seeds, water them until full grown then hand the mature plant back over to you. Would you be a Gardner? If you were King or Queen of a country maybe that’s how you would garden.

But to really learn you need to have hands on practice. 

When first starting out gold panning there are several methods and many of them work, but they also have what I feel are draw backs. 

You can purchase a book about panning that has one small fleck of gold taped to the back cover.

The author of this book tells you to use small BB’s for an air rifle. Small brass nuts will also sometimes work instead if you can only find plastic bb’s. 

Practice gold panning following the books instructions until all you see are the bb’s or small brass nuts in the bottom of your pan. If all you have left are the bb’s or brass nuts and a little bit of sand you are ready for the streams according to the book. Now the book outlines some good knowledge and a few methods that work well.  

The draw backs, are memory muscle and tactile difference that will have you gold panning for bb’s and brass nuts in no time. You will be the best “bb” panner at the campsite with little practice. But finding “bb’s” and brass nuts in your gold pan is kind of boring.  

Prospector John’s offers hands on experience where a staff of experienced panner’s will quickly help you get your gold panning skills up to speed. You’ll also gain the experience and excitement of seeing real gold in the bottom of your gold pan. 

John shows and explains how he uses a sluice box to help classify materials, with hands on experience you gain by actually using the equipment yourself. Go from the sluice over to the gold panning stations. All of the equipment is setup and explained how it can be used in nature and what you would be looking for if you were to set everything up yourself in a stream. 

Next John or one of his helpful staff members will guide you to the point of cleaning up your concentrates. Where you will see real gold in the bottom of your pan. John or a staff member will then help you place all of your “gold finds” into a glass vial for you to take home as a souvenir.  

There are several Gold panning operations throughout Alaska but the beauty and scenery of peninsula area in Kenai, Soldotna, Sterling and Cooper landing offers other unique features not found in other gold panning operations. 

Many a Prospector John customer has commented on how much better the experience and quality of paydirt Prospector John’s offers compared to others they have visited. 

For only $20 a bucket you can gain the hands on experience and the excitement of seeing real gold in your gold pan! And enjoy the beauty and other attractions. A unique and fun experience for the whole family. 

Prospector John’s gold panning experience can be found in Cooper Landing at the Pioneer Village or in a new second location in Sterling at “Alaskan Carousel Carvers” on Sterling Highway.

For the Sterling location look for the house sized “Ice Cream Cone” and turn in at "Alaskan Carousel Carvers".